Conference Programme & Information the Politics of Armed Struggle in Southern Africa
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CONFERENCE PROGRAMME & INFORMATION THE POLITICS OF ARMED STRUGGLE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA In recent years, southern Africa’s armed struggle has been the subject of intense discussions both at the scholarly level and in public discourse, with debates around the relative ‘success’ or ‘failure’ of armed tactics and the transition from non-violent to armed resistance being among the most controversial. Yet these debates need to be grounded in a deeper understanding of the historical context and of the changing internal and international conditions within which the armed struggle emerged and developed over the years. Moreover, with few exceptions, the experiences of former military cadres, particularly at rank and file level, remain untold and undocumented. The conference seeks to open up new areas of research and new conversations on this topic which, in spite of its historical significance as a key strategy of the liberation movements over many years and carrying a lot of weight in the lives of thousands of people, has remained difficult to document and understand, not least because of its sensitive nature and associated secrecy. One of the conference’s key aims is to provide a space for recounting narratives of the armed struggle from the perspective of its protagonists. A second aim is to make an intellectual contribution to the historiography of the liberation struggle by generating original research and developing new questions and ideas on the armed struggle. Thirdly, the conference aims to foreground the regional dimension of the armed struggle in southern Africa and the reciprocal influence of struggles in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique and Angola. This conference on the history and politics of the armed struggle in southern Africa is hosted by the Wits History Workshop, the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) and South African History Online (SAHO) . The conference is being funded by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) with the support of the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (RLS). 1 Wednesday 23rd November Thursday 24th November Registration Welcome and Opening Remarks Time: 15:00 – 17:30 Time: 08:30 – 9:00 Venue: Foyer – John Moffat Building Venue: Dorothy Susskind Auditorium, John Moffat Building The exhibition Recollecting‘ Samora - Thirty Years On’ Programme Conference on display in the foyer of the nearby William Cullen Library First Keynote Address: ‘Storied Wars: Personal Narratives and (curated by Gabriele Mohale and Ruth Muller) Liberation Struggle Histories’ Time: 9:00 – 9:45 Posters of the Armed Struggle in Southern Africa Venue: Dorothy Susskind Auditorium on display in the Moffat Building foyer (curated by Judy Seidman) Speaker: Jocelyn Alexander Opening Public Dialogue: ‘The Armed Struggle: Was it Worth It?’ Second Keynote Address: ‘The Hero & the New Intellectual: Writing and the Armed Struggle’ Time: 18:00 – 19:30 Time: 9:45 – 10:45 Venue: Dorothy Susskind Auditorium, John Moffat Building Venue: Dorothy Susskind Auditorium Speakers: Speaker: Mandla Langa Dumiso Dabengwa Comments & questions Terry Bell Ayanda Dlodlo Chair: Adam Habib Tea & Coffee Time: 10:45 – 11:15 Venue: Foyer – John Moffat Building Conference Programme Programme Conference 2 3 PARALLEL PANELS 1-2-3-4 Panel 4: Military Veterans Post-Liberation Time: 11:15 – 12:45 Venue: John Moffat Extension Building Room 101 Panellists: Panel 1: Strategic and Tactical Turning Points in South Africa’s 1. Frederick Sadomba: ‘Psycho-social strains of Transition for Liberation Struggle (Part 1) Zimbabwean Excombatants and its Effect on Peace-building and Post-conflict Recovery, 1980-2016’ Venue: John Moffat Building Room A2 2. Zandisiwe Radebe: ‘Negotiated out of existence: Fanonian Panellists: mediations on APLA and AZANLA combatants’ Programme Conference 1. Z. Pallo Jordan and Mac Maharaj: ‘South Africa and the Turn to 3. Fumani Mthembi: ‘From Commissar to Obscurity: The Role of Armed Resistance’ Disorganisation in The Struggle for Liberation’ 2. Simon Stevens: ‘The “Turn to Armed Struggle” and the “Turn to Chair: Judy Seidman Sanctions”, 1960-1969’ 3. Dale McKinley: ‘Umkhonto We Sizwe: A Critical analysis of the armed struggle of the African National Congress’ Chair: Tshepo Moloi Lunch Time: 12:45 – 13:45 Venue: Foyer – John Moffat Building Panel 2: Film Screening ‘Cuba-South Africa: After the Battle’ Lunch time Film Screening (Dir: Estella Bravo, 1991, 58 minutes) Dieci giorni con i guerriglieri del Mozambico libero (Ten Days with the Guerrillas in Mozambique’s Liberated Areas) Introduced by: Robert van Niekerk (Dir: Franco Cigarini, Italy, 1972, 23 min). Venue: Dorothy Susskind Auditorium, John Moffat Building Introduced by: Chiara Torcianti Chair: TBC Venue: Dorothy Susskind Auditorium, John Moffat Building Panel 3: Patriotic History and the Politics of Memory in Namibia and Zimbabwe Venue: John Moffat Extension Building Room 001 Panellists: 1. Joseph Mujere, Joost Fontein and Munyaradzi Elton Sagiya: ‘”Those who are not known, should be known by the country”: Patriotic history, liberation heritage and the politics of recognition in Gutu district, southern Zimbabwe’ Conference Programme Programme Conference 2. Henning Melber: ‘Armed Liberation Struggle and the Post- colonial narrative in Namibia’ 3. Samukele Hadebe: ‘Challenges in Memorializing ZPRA Legacy’ Chair: Jocelyn Alexander 4 5 PARALLEL PANELS 5-6-7-8-9 Panel 7: The Media and Representations of the Armed Struggle Time: 13:45 – 15:15 Venue: John Moffat Extension Building Room 001 Panellists: Panel 5: Strategic and Tactical Turning Points in South Africa’s 1. Ishmael Makanyisa: ‘The role of the media during the liberation Liberation Struggle (part 2) struggle in Zimbabwe from 1966 – 1979’ 2. Naitsikile Iizyenda: ‘Defending South West: Paratus and the Venue: John Moffat Building Room A2 Programme Conference Power of Persuasion’ Panellists: 3. Garrett Eriksen:‘Stories, Shadows and Dust: A filmmaker’s 1. Patrick Mangashe: ‘The armed struggle, the underground and experience documenting the stories of SADF veterans of the mass mobilisation in South Africa’s border region between 1986- South African Border War’ 1990 through the experiences of MK cadres’ Chair: Omar Badsha 2. Nkululeko Mabandla: ‘The 1980s student movement and South Africa’s armed struggle’ 3. Mike Mzimasi Hala: ‘The Military and the Political in MK Actions in the 1980s: A View from a Senior MK Combatant (Special Ops)’ Panel 8: The Armed Struggle in Poems Chair: Mandla Langa Venue: John Moffat Extension Building Room 101 Panellists: 1. Helen Douglas: ‘Need I Remind Anyone Again?’ Panel 6: Biography and Histories of the Armed Struggle 2. Benny Moyo Venue: John Moffat Building Rooms A3 3. Makhosazana Xaba: ‘Journeying’ Panellists: Chair: Barry Gilder 1. Tshepo Moloi: ‘”You have to think of tomato sauce”: The life and times of Thembuyise Simon Mndawe, an MK cadre’ 2. Christian Williams: Exile‘ Biography and Un-National History: The Panel 9: Film Screening: Story of Kaufilwa Nepelilo’ Action Kommandant 3. Hugh Macmillan: ‘Jack Simons and armed struggle’ (Dir. Nadine Cloete, South Africa, 2016, 90 minutes) 4. Miguel Junior: ‘Agostinho Neto and the armed struggle in Southern Africa (Angola, 1961-1979) Venue: Dorothy Susskind Auditorium, John Moffat Building Chair: Alex Lichtenstein Tea & Coffee Time: 15:15 – 15:45 Conference Programme Programme Conference Venue: Foyer – John Moffat Building 6 7 PARALLEL PANELS: Panels 10-11-12-13 Panel 13: Mapping the Armed Struggle Time: 15:45 – 17:15 Venue: A3 John Moffat Extension Building Room 101 Panellists: Panel 10: Gendering the Armed Struggle 1. Godfrey Maringira: ‘”Underground Operations”: Azania People’s Venue: John Moffat Building Room A2 Liberation Army guerrillas in South Africa’ Panellists: 2. Jephias Andrew Dzimbanhete: ‘Sources about guerrilla activities in the Rhodesian countryside during Zimbabwe’s armed struggle: 1. Jefferson Ndimande: ‘The Subaltern Speaks: ZPRA Women the case of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army Programme Conference Combatants and the Liberation War in Zimbabawe’ (ZANLA) field reports’ 2. Jonna Katto:‘Beautiful Mozambique Haptics of belonging in the 3. Asa Mudzimu: ‘Convivialities, violence and deprivation: War and life narratives of female war veterans’ everyday life in guerrilla camps in Mozambique and Zambia’ 3. Bheki R Mngomezulu: ‘Being the shadow of men: Women’s role Chair: Noor Nieftagodien in the armed struggle in Southern Africa with specific reference to Ingwavuma’ Chair: Anne Heffernan Public Dialogue: ‘Fighting on Two Fronts: Experience and Practice of Gender Panel 11: Counterinsurgency and Ethnic Politics within the Armed Struggle Struggle within the Armed Struggle in Southern Africa’ Time: 18:00 – 19:30 Venue: John Moffat Building Room A3 Venue: Dorothy Susskind Auditorium, John Moffat Building Panellists: Speakers: 1. Garth Benneyworth: ‘Bechuanaland’s aerial pipeline: State surveillance, repression and counter-insurgency, 1960-1964’ Thenjiwe Mthintso 2. Lennart Bolliger: ‘The Post-War Life Trajectories and Historical Raymond Suttner Narratives of Black Namibian and Angolan ExKoevoet and 32 Makhosazana Xaba Battalion Members’ Chair: Judy Seidman 3. John Mwangi Githigaro: ‘(Re)visiting the Impact of Ethnic Divisions in the Armed Struggle in Zimbabwe’ 4. Calisto Samuel Remedios Baquete: ‘Genesis of Movements of opposition to Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (FRELIMO) in period from 1960 to 1994. The case of COREMO’ Chair: Saneze Tshayana